discouraged isn't just how the Greeks feel- it's how the school feels. Bad sports, bad profs, bad dorms, bad admin, and a state government that keeps cutting our budget. That's where my bad mood comes from today- the governor vetoed $30 million worth of our budget.

(And in case you were wondering, I'm not some loser who hangs out on the computer all night- I'm babysitting and trapped in the house, and I've nothing better to do than banter back and forth.)

Now this is more like it.....but this is also where I get most frustrated.

We don't have any kind of formal rush for the men- AT ALL. No system-wide events, no rules, no nothing. It's a free-for-all. I've been trying to get people to switch to a more organized system, but they're all convinced it'll ruin their already small numbers. And I'm sorry, ladies, but NPC doesn't help- they seem to have a rule against everything the men want to do. And on top of it all, the school tries to keep us down- last year housing actually banned us from helping out with freshmen move-in. They threatened to arrest any Greeks who entered the dorms. Charming, I think.

Thanks Saint for the hometown confirmation. :) It's nice to have someone around who understands. I was once thrown out of an Amherst College party because I took off my sweatshirt and oops, had letters on underneath. They said something about beating my dirty Greek a**.

You guys are all making me feel better, at least.

New england!
 

From one New englander to another


I say good luck!

I have to agree with SaintXCPi and KSig RC about New England. I go to UMass Dartmouth and people really arent into greek life up here. And people just dont have pride for their school. I know in the south sporting events are the big thing, at my school not that many people go. I understand One Plus totally, and I pray that we can get 20 guys to recolonize TKE at my school. Im there for you bud, I know what its like.

Moreover, I think some of the big southern chapters should take a road-trip to your New England chapters. You'll find its a totally different world as far as greek life.

PotentialPledge rocks! And her school is awesome, it's chiseled entirely out of huge rocks! :)

And this is for the people who don't know MA- UMass Amherst is the UMass with the basketball team you sometimes here about- it's the "real" UMass. UMass Dartmouth is a branch campus- but it's still awesome!

hey one plus my name is Matt and im a guy.

First, I'd like to say that on a campus of 30,000, only about 1500 students are actually Greek (Not counting USFC of course), and our campus has also tried it's best to bring Greek Life down (I mean, we average one house expelled a year). And no matter how much money we raise thru Greek Week and other Philantropies, the only way Greeks get some Pub is if they do something bad, AND Numbers have dropped tremendously since the 80s. But despite all that, we know we're in the minority, and just try to have fun and keep up the traditions that our Brothers and sisters before us did, and try our best to show others that the stereotypes just aren't true.

Second, my house is the smallest one and youngest (we were rechartered in 99 with a new group of guys), and my pledge period wasn't what I had liked it to be. I didn't have a big sis, we didn't do pref, we didn't do walkarounds, and we DIDN'T HAVE A FORMAL. But I'm still proud of what I've done and accomplished in Delta Sig, and I don't complain because I know we're going to work hard to bring a lot of those traditions back to our house.

Basically what I'm saying is that you have to make the best of (what you would think) is a bad situation, and try your best to change it. You shouldn't have time to be complaining about the negative aspects of your Greek life, because you should be workin hard to change them.

OnePlus--

You said on another thread regarding rivalry that you don't have interaction with any of the other greeks. Without a decent system within your own community, you can't expect that others would want to join groups, yours or others. As hokey as this sounds, you need to create solidarity amongst all greeks, at least respect for each other, and then focus on finding members.

I publically apoligize to PotentialPledge. I tend to assume that everyone on the Net is female until I discover otherwise. I've found men tend to be less insulted at the confusion.

one plus I wasnt insulted at all lol. You should come visit Dartmouth sometime. Ive never been to Amherst.

PotentialPledge, come visit Dartmouth? I practically live there. I'm about ten minutes from the campus right now.

Shadokat, how exactly shall we build community? When we announced we were voluntarily going dry, we got garbage dumped on our lawn, one of our pledges was threatened, and I got death threats in the mail. I realize that cranks did all those things, not chapter leaders, but it shows the prevailing attitude.

Most Practical Solution
 

I believe there is a solution to your problem. It would be quick, dramatic and effective. This solution probably will sound strange, but the positive & practical effects would be immediate. I looked at the Greek Affairs website for U-Mass-Amherst which, as I read the thread, appears to be the school in question. You seem to have a mixture of local fraternities, plus some nationals that - as you describe them - are lethargic, and mired in poor leadership, no direction, etc.
The answer is to immediately contact the major nationals fraternities known to be very aggressive in rush and very skilled in expansion, and ask them to come onto campus as soon as possible. You said there are no rules; that works out perfectly. It's free-market Heaven, and the big dogs can establish strong, attractive, positive organizations within one school year. The system will be flooded with new blood and energy, and the older houses will have to scramble to keep up. YOUR chapter will be better, larger, stronger because of the competition and the energy. Right now no one is challenging them. The weak and unwilling to compete will die, pruning the tree and making it stronger. I don't buy the "weakest link of the chain" analogy for a fraternity system. If a chain has a weak link, you get a pair of pliers and take it off before it endangers the whole structure. Those chapters offering the best "product" will prosper.
These national are very aggressive, very strong marketers, and are not represented on your campus according to the website: Alpha Tau Omega, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Pikes (Pi Kappa Alpha), Tau Kappa Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Chi. Guaranteed to shock the campus and the administration and the existing system. Guaranteed success. There are literally thousands of prospects out there on a campus that size who would never consider joining a fraternity now. The big dogs know how to make big things happen fast.

I just moved from the south to New England and I will attest to the fact that it is quite apathetic. The general attitude of everything (not just greek life) seems to me (notice I said SEEMS, not IS) like it is less friendly in general. Also, and this might be off topic...people here do not dress in as bright of colors....just an observation.

Anyhow, the first time I visited here, I went down Thayer St. (in Providence, Brown Univ. area) wearing my DZ pink bid day baseball style tee and I swear, I would have gotten less stares if I had been, oh...ON FIRE. It was quite strange. In Houston, you pretty much can't go out of the house without seeing at least one person in a greek shirt of some kind at the mall, grocery store, etc.

So does this make me choose different shirts to wear around town...heck no. I will wear my letters proudly. You wanna stare, go ahead. It's PR as far as I am concerned. And I will smile and be polite just like usual and maybe someone will be open enough to realize that greeks are a positive thing.

So be agressive. With your politeness, friendliness, helpfulness, letter-wearing, recruitment, standards, etc. Do not settle for any less that what you want. You will be surprised.

aw, dzsaigirl, sounds like you got a dose of New England hospitality. I think we're just a more domestic breed- don't like to waste time on social niceties. We also don't like to impose on other people, or to be imposed on. I have to supress my horror when I see people in Greek letter shirts- it's just so 'look at me, look at me'. It was a huge struggle to get my chapter to buy them, and I have to make myself wear mine- I can't stand it, and I cover it whenever I can. Greek letters also smack of elitism, and there is no worse sin in New England. You might be a dread Republican.

boilingbaker, we tried that. They won't touch this campus with a ten foot pole. TKE, Pike, and SAE all used to have chapters here, and none of them are interested in coming back- EVER. They've been very clear about that. Sigma Chi and Alpha Tau Omega have been contacted, and weren't interested. Nobody wants to walk into a bad situation- they're all willing to try if there's already an interest group, but they won't come and just start recruiting. Theta Chi was the first fraternity to send a real recruitment person here in decades, and that was only after 10 years of pressure from their alumni- this is their Gamma chapter, I believe. And even they're cautious- this is the fourth time they've recolonized here. The last try didn't even get their charter, the colony was shut down for hazing.

I noticed that too dzsaigirl. People in New England dont where bright colors, and arent nearly as friendly as southerners. I like to say im from the south, eventhough people dont consider dc the south. Another thing I noticed about New Englanders is that they never leave the region.